


Sansa and Arya Wolf Pack Princesses

by suzbc



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: BAMF Arya Stark, BAMF Sansa Stark, Direwolves (A Song of Ice and Fire), Eventual Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Gendry Waters - Freeform, Lady - Freeform, Lady lives, Mostly Gen, Pre-Relationship, Riding Direwolves, Robb Stark Lives, Sansa POV, Sansa escapes, Season 1 fix-it, The Stark Family's Direwolves Live, direwolf, giant direwolves, grey wind - Freeform, nymeria - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29705598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzbc/pseuds/suzbc
Summary: Arya sends both Nymeria and Lady away at the crossroads. This changes things. Sansa is devastated by the results and becomes closer to Arya as a result. They escape together when the gold cloaks arrest their father. Together they escape the city and head north. They reunite with their direwolves and find Robb and his army on their way north.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 12
Kudos: 71





	Sansa and Arya Wolf Pack Princesses

Sansa was frightened when she was pulled in front of the King and Queen to answer for what had happened with Joffery. Arya was being her usual self playing with her friend, she’d tried to steer Joffery away from them, but he'd insisted. And after Arya had taken his sword and thrown it into the river Joffery had been so mad at them. She’d simply frozen in fear, but her sister had shaken her out of it. “Quick” she’d said, “we have to send the direwolves away.” And Sansa had protested, but Arya was adamant that Joffery would punish them. Sansa stood there staring blankly as Arya threw rocks at both Nymeria and Lady until they ran off tears streaming down her cheeks. But now she is even more frightened than she’d been when Joffery had raised his sword at her sister before Nymeria had bitten him. Now Sansa is silent as she vaguely hears Cersei and Joffery telling a wild tale of how Joffery had been attacked by them with sticks and then bitten by their direwolves. Sansa hears Arya protesting telling the King that Joffery was lying, but Sansa couldn’t make herself say anything at all she just stands there, blinking.

Suddenly the Queen yells that the direwolves should be killed. Sansa gasps and Arya whirls to look at her with wide eyes. Then the King calls out that something must be done, and that the beast did bite the Prince after all. Sansa’s tears come out of nowhere streaming hotly down her cheeks as she hears her sister yelling that they did nothing wrong and that they were only protecting them from Joffery. It’s quiet for a time and Sansa is starting to get her bearings again when there is shouting again startling her. “The wolves are gone, your Graces.” The guard says and while Sansa of course knew that they were gone. She is more focused on how relieved she is that she had listened to Arya for once in her life. She’s never listened to her wild sister before. The Queen starts yelling and now Arya is backing into her, Sansa backs up as well not knowing what is happening. Suddenly guards grab both of them and Sansa shrieks in fright while Arya yells and curses. “Leave Sansa alone she didn’t do anything.” Arya is screaming while they are being dragged closer to the small dais the King and Queen are seated upon.

“Ten lashes, each.” The King pronounces and Arya goes silent. Suddenly they are dropped and they struggle to their feet huddled together. The guards come forwards again and suddenly they are ripping the backs of their dresses open. Arya holds her hand and gives her a look that says ‘be brave’. Sansa tries to nod through her tears and squeezes her hand tighter than she’d ever done before. The lash comes without warning and shocks a shriek out of her that had Arya giving her a dark look. Sansa clenches her teeth together hard enough to crack them and closes her eyes. She silently counts the lashes and it’s not until the very last lash that she hears something that she should have been hoping for but in her fright had completely forgotten about. Their father shouts. “What is the meaning of this!” Having counted ten lashes Sansa grips Arya’s hand even harder and moves towards her sister again. Sansa can see the tears that had leaked out of her silent sister and she uses her free hand to wipe them away for her.

Eventually, following their Lord father they walk hand in hand towards their room. Each of them holding the remains of their dresses to their chests attempting not to cry or to look at anyone. When they reach their room Sansa moves towards her bed and just wants to lay down and never get back up again. “Girls, I’m so sorry. What happened should never have happened.” Their father says and Sansa opens her eyes to find Lord Eddard Stark is kneeling in front of her, his daughters who are sitting on their bed, hands still clenched together, in an Inn in the middle of Westeros. Her tears overwhelm her sight and her mind goes blank and she sees nothing but black.

Sansa thought that the Red Keep would be wondrous and so exciting and lovely compared to Winterfell. But all she wants is to go home. After what happened father had assigned them both guards and they were never to be without them. Father seemed very distracted and upset most of the time they spent in Kings Landing. He didn’t have time to spend with us, even less than when we were in Winterfell. Sansa did her best to get along with the ladies of the court, but her heart wasn’t really in it anymore. She tried especially hard to avoid Cersei and Joffery. Arya had been spending all her time with her new dancing instructor Syrio and chasing cats of all things. She missed Lady the most, even if she did miss her mother and her brothers as well - even Jon and Theon some days. At night she would dream of Lady and Nymeria running through the forest hunting with a pack of smaller wolves. She would wake with blood on her tongue and a restlessness that tea and sewing didn’t help with.

Suddenly father came and told them that they were leaving for Winterfell and Sansa was afraid again. She went to find Arya. “Did father tell you?” Sansa asks. “Yes, I’m glad, but I’m worried that they won’t let us leave,” Arya says quietly so only Sansa can hear her. Sansa grabs her hand tightly. They stand together holding hands not saying a word for a very long time. “Do you dream of Nymeria?” Sansa asks finally. Arya jerks her head up and stares at her. “Yes.” Arya answers. “I dream of Lady, she’s hunting with Nymeria and they have a pack of smaller wolves with them,” Sansa admits her voice quiet, unsure. “Same. Exactly, the same.” Arya admits her eyes wide, she grips Sansa’s hand tighter.

Septa Mordane comes into the room. “Sansa you’re expected for tea with Princess Marcella shortly,” Septa says her voice curt. “I’m not feeling well Septa if you could please give Marcella my apologies,” Sansa says and the Septa scrutinizes her for a moment too long before she finally nods and leaves them mostly alone again. “I’m supposed to have a lesson with Syrio, you could come with me,” Arya suggests and Sansa nods and they walk to where Arya usually meets with Syrio for her lessons. 

Sansa stands off to the side with the guards and watches as Arya learns her water dancing steps. Her thoughts are on the journey that they will soon be taking back north. She hopes that they can find Lady and Nymeria again and bring them home too. She is so lost in her thoughts of Lady that she doesn’t notice that her vision of the inside of the Red Keep fades to reveal instead a forest filled with wolves. She can hear the forest noises and she quickly finds Nymeria, who’s never farther than their senses stretch. Suddenly she hears sounds of metal clashing and Arya screaming at her. Sansa shakes her head and her vision swims to reveal her sister staring at her in alarm. “Sansa! Wake up!” Arya yells. “I’m right here, what’s going on?” Sansa says and shakes her sister's hands off her shoulders. “I don’t know but we have to run,” Arya says and grabs her hand and starts to drag her off behind her. “What! What’s going on?” Sansa cries but starts to run as well after looking behind her and finding their guards and Syrio fighting against gold cloaked soldiers. “I don’t know, but nothing good for sure,” Arya says and grabs a torch as they run through the halls. They stop for a moment and look back the way they came. They can hear the fighting and Arya pulls on her hand again. Arya seems to know exactly where they are going and soon they come out into the stables and Sansa has to cover her mouth to muffle her scream as they find the bodies amidst their half-packed belongings. Arya immediately starts to rummage through one of the crates looking for something. Sansa moves out towards the horses and looks around wondering what they are supposed to do now. She turns at the sound of a boy's voice, and she’s not sure who’s more shocked of the three of them when Arya’s sword - and where did she get a sword - goes into the boy's stomach. Arya turns towards her and starts to run so Sansa has no choice but to follow her.

They run out of the Red Keep and into the city itself mixing in with the masses of people milling about. Finally, Arya stops running and Sansa can catch her breath. “Now what?” Sansa asks. “I don’t know,” Arya says. They sit in the small alleyway for hours it seems just breathing and thinking. “We have to find out what happened to father, and we have to get out of this city.” Sansa finally says and Arya only nods her eyes wide. They continue to sit until their stomachs rumble and Arya whimpers. Sansa pulls her sister closer and smoothes her hand over her hair. She does this for a while and then she notices her red hair and jolts upright. “We need to hide ourselves. My hair it’s too noticeable.” Sansa whispers and Arya nods but doesn’t say anything. They finally fall asleep huddled together.

“I have an idea, but you might not like it,” Arya says when the sun finally peaks through the clouds. “It can’t be any worse than anything I came up with,” Sansa says. We could go over to the street of cloth and find some dyes, maybe even some work for you?” Arya says quietly. “Work!” Sansa cries far too loud and cups her hand over her mouth to silence herself. “We need food, Sans,” Arya says - ever the practical one. “Right,” Sansa says simply and thinks about Arya’s suggestion. “I wish Nymeria were here,” Arya says mournfully. “Me too. I miss Lady terribly.” Sansa agrees. “Nymeria can hunt too,” Arya says quietly and Sansa sucks in a deep breath. “We have to get out of the city and find them,” Sansa tells her sister.

They spend the day exploring the city and avoiding any guards or, by the seven forbid, gold cloaks. Sansa’s mouth waters as they pass food stalls that they don’t have the coin to purchase anything at. They find the street with all the cloth merchants and start to look around. Arya always finds her way into places she’s not supposed to be and so while Sansa walks around looking at each shop wondering if they might hire her, Arya slips into the back and looks for things that won’t be missed. They find one another again and Arya nods towards another small alley nearby. They slip in-between the buildings and huddle together in the dark. “I think I found some discarded ink that we could use to colour your hair.” Arya whispers and Sansa’s heart soars in pride at her sister. “Really?” Sansa says and Arya nods. They fall asleep huddled together again both their stomachs rumbling loudly.

They wake periodically through the night and when they can’t get back to sleep they decide that they might as well see if they can find the ink now while everyone else is asleep. Sansa follows Arya as they walk quietly through the back of the cloth stalls. Both are careful to not make a sound lest someone discover them. Finally, Arya stops and points to what looks to Sansa to be refuse, but upon a closer look, Sansa can see that it is dye of many colours discarded here for any number of reasons. There is no one around and so quickly Sansa removes her outer dress and hangs it nearby and then takes some of the dye and starts to work it into her hair. Eventually, Sansa sits and lets her sister finish and then they quickly dunk her hair in the nearest pot of water they can find and wash the excess out. Arya helps her ring out the water and she puts her overdress back on and turns to her sister and asks. “Well? What do you think?” And Arya just squints and shrugs. Sansa can see that her hair is a dark brown or black now and wishes she had a looking glass to see how it looked for herself, but that doesn’t really matter now does it? She huffs and starts to walk back towards their little alleyway again, Arya following behind her this time. They walk slower this time both lost in their own thoughts.

The sun starts to come out as do the people of Kings Landing as they get ready for the day. “We need to find something to eat Sans,” Arya says and heads off down a different road, Sansa of course follows her. Sansa is pulled from her thoughts as Arya darts between two buildings and Sansa looks both ways and seeing nothing of interest wonders where she is going before she follows her sister. Arya stops at the end of the building and is peering out into the back. Sansa being taller easily looks over her sister's head trying to figure out what they are doing here. She can hear lots of people in the building next door and the smell from the back of the building is not pleasant. Before Sansa can say anything Arya darts out and grabs something and then comes rushing back before Sansa can even blink. 

Arya of course shows her her prize as soon as she is safely back between the two buildings next to her sister. Sansa gasps quietly. “Food!” Sansa whispers and Arya grimaces but brings it to her nose and gives it a sniff. Arya shrugs and breaks it in half and puts it into her mouth and holds out the other to Sansa. Sansa watches her sister's face and then simply puts the food into her mouth and chews once then swallows it uncaring what it was, simply hoping that it stops the feeling that her stomach is trying to eat itself it's so empty. Suddenly a door slams open into the back area very close to where they are standing bringing with it voices and clattering from inside. Both girls freeze and then turn back towards the street and rush out of the alley as fast as they can move.

They make their way back to the street of cloth again and Sansa pays more attention to the stalls this time. Sansa is concentrating so much that she doesn’t notice all the extra traffic, she doesn’t hear the bells ringing, nor does she notice Arya start to drift further away from her. Sansa gets jostled one too many times and finally starts to pay more attention to her surroundings. “Arya!” Sansa cries and looks around frantically for her little sister. Finally, she spots her running along with some other kids and starts off after her. She doesn’t catch up to her sister and she’s very concerned as more and more people stream into the streets alongside them. She’s half running half walking trying to keep Arya in sight without drawing too much attention to herself. She notices a woman keeping pace with herself and so she risks talking to her. “What’s going on?” Sansa asks the woman who looks at her with wide eyes. “It’s the Hand of the King, they’re taking him to the Sept Baelor.” The woman tells her and Sansa gasps and stops walking only to be jostled right back along by the crowd. She looks up and cries out. She can’t see Arya anywhere. Sansa rushes along now and suddenly the crowd starts to get loud. With so many voices mixed together it’s impossible to hear what they are saying. And Sansa can’t see anything at all with all the people in front of her. Think Sansa think. Sansa tries to see over people's shoulders as much as she can. The crowd is thick and it’s difficult to see anything. She can see the statue of Baelor now and the bells are louder so she knows that they have arrived. The crowd parts suddenly and oh just there she can see Arya crouched on the statue of Baelor and her heart beats just a little slower at seeing her safe. She wishes she could see her father as well and starts to try and get closer to her sister. The crowd quiets and she can hear her father speaking.

“Where are my daughters!” Eddard Stark yells. And the crowd parts and she can see the stage briefly and she sees her father kneeling in front of Joffery and Cersei and her blood boils. “Where are my daughters!” Her father yells again louder than the first time. Sansa is still struggling to get to the statue amidst the screaming crowd. She is shocked that they seem so interested in bloodshed. The crowd quiets again and she’s granted another glimpse at the stage and sees her father standing facing the crowd all alone.

“I am Eddard Stark Lord of Winterfell, and Hand of the King. I come before you to confess, in the sight of Gods and men. I never betrayed my friend and King Robert. I swore to defend and protect his children. King Robert wrote a will stating that I would be regent until his heir came of age.” Her father says and the crowd is so quiet she can hear every word clear as a bell.

“Ser Ilyn bring me his head!” Joffery yells and the crowd goes nuts some yelling off with his head and others yelling slurs against Joffery. The crowd parts and she’s horrified to see that Arya isn’t on the statue anymore. Sansa prays that her sister hasn’t done anything stupid and keeps struggling towards the statue. When she finally reaches it she does her best to climb it to get a better view. She avoids looking at the stage and looks instead for her sister. She gasps as she sees a man in all black grab her sister. She is even more shocked when Arya doesn’t struggle much. She risks a look at the stage and sees her father looking straight at her. He’s on his knees and she can hear the ring of the valyrian steel as they unsheathe Ice behind his back. The man in the black hood stands with Ice raised and Sansa looks into her father's eyes and she can see him willing her to run, but she’s frozen solid again. 

Sansa screams as Ice separates her father's head from his body and it's pure luck that she hears her sister screaming her name. She looks down and watches as the man in black hauls her sister off out of the crowd. She takes one more look at the stage and then clammers down and follows after her sister yet again. As she struggles the sounds of the crowd rush back into her brain, which had been numb since she first climbed atop the statue base. She rushes through the crowd with more force and suddenly she comes to a passageway. She can hear Arya speaking and a man as well. Sansa stops, presses herself to the wall and waits, listening. She hears the man talking to Arya telling her she’s a boy and asking if she wants to live. 

Suddenly their voices get quieter and she peeks around the corner and sees that they are walking away. Slowly she follows them keeping far enough away not to be noticed. She gets closer at one point and she hears the man mention the Night's Watch and Sansa backs off a little further. They come out of the dark alley into a sunny area with red cloths. Sansa hears the man warning Arya about the men, how they would turn her in or rape her and Sansa is very frightened for her sister but also herself. She stays back keeping out of sight while still trying to keep an eye on her sister. Sansa ducks behind a wagon and grabs a piece of red cloth and drapes it over her head like a shawl. She peeks around the corner again and is horrified to see Arya get into a scuffle right away with some boys. Sansa wants to go and help, but she knows that she wouldn’t be able to help her anyway. She’s relieved when a bigger boy comes to her rescue although it looked like Arya didn’t need any help. She certainly didn’t need any help with that boy in the stables. Sansa looks around and notices an empty basket and not seeing anyone nearby quickly grabs it and puts some cloths inside.

“Come on you sorry sons of whores. It’s a thousand leagues from here to the Wall. And Winter is Coming!” The man in black who’s clearly a man of the Night's Watch suddenly yells out. And then the wagons are moving and Sansa takes her chance and darts out and follows them as best she can. She keeps close to the back of the wagons with the provisions the pots and things clanking loudly. She prays to the old gods and the new as they pass through the gates. She can hear her heart pounding in her ears so loud that she can’t hear anything else. It’s many hours later that she even realizes that she’s free of the city and her heart slows and she turns and looks back and sees the city getting smaller behind them. She steps a little further out from behind the wagon to see if she can see her sister. She thinks she can see her shorn head walking behind the boy that had helped her earlier and is glad to see that she seems safe for now. Sansa’s feet ache and she lets her mind wander as they continue along the road. 

Sansa thinks to herself, step one -get out of the city- accomplished. Step two, find their direwolves, step three, get back to Winterfell. Sansa thinks about Lady as she walks, she thinks back to the day that they had to run. She thinks about how she’d sworn she was in a forest with Nymeria not the Red Keep with Arya. Sansa’s feet follow the wagon, while her mind wanders. Eventually, the sky gets darker and the caravan goes off the road. Sansa keeps her distance even more now. It’s easier now that the sun is going down, but she doesn't want to be discovered. She watches as Arya moves around the camp with startling ease and is beyond happy that she goes off into the woods in the direction that she is hidden. Sansa quickly follows her making sure that no one is following. She finds her sister hidden in the bushes and almost gets stuck with her sword when she reveals herself. “Arya it’s me!” Sansa whispers to her sister. “Sansa! Oh my god, I was so worried about you.” Arya says and rushes towards her. They hug and then Sansa says. “Now what?” And Arya laughs and laughs. “Oh my gosh, I’m going to pee myself, Sans.” Arya cries and then quickly darts up and relieves herself. Sansa takes the opportunity to relieve herself as well and then turns to her sister with a wide-eyed stare. 

“Yoren said he’d take me home to Winterfell. He knows who I am. Told me to pretend to be a boy named Arry.” Arya finally says. “Okay, that’s good. Where did you get that?” Sansa says and gestures to her leather jerkin. “Oh, Yoren,” Arya says and then it looks like she’s finally looking at her. “I can see if I can find you something to wear, you need to blend in more,” Arya says and darts off. Sansa looks around and sighs. It’s starting to get darker and she’s not sure what’s going to happen now. Sansa is exploring trying to find somewhere to bed down that might be safe. Close enough to the group, but not too close. She’s paying attention so she hears someone coming and darts around a tree before they get too close. “Sans.” Arya whispers and Sansa reveals herself and her sister rushes over to her. She has clothing in her arms as well as a bedroll. “Thank you, Sister!” Sansa says and Arya blushes. Sansa quickly changes and looks to her sister when she’s finished. “We should get you a cap and you’ll need a knife,” Arya says and Sansa breathes out a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding. Sansa unrolls the bedroll and then puts her dress and things inside and then re-rolls it. 

“We need to find our direwolves,” Sansa says to her sister. “I know, but I don’t know how,” Arya replies with a shrug. “I think I saw through Lady’s eyes that day, while you were sparring with Syrio before we had to run,” Sansa says. “Is that why your eyes were white?” Arya asks her eyes all squinty. “My eyes were white?” Sansa asks shocked. “Yes. It was super creepy and you wouldn’t wake up.” Arya tells her and Sansa thinks back to that day. “I remember seeing the forest, the pack of wolves and then Nymeria was there as well. I never see Lady in my dreams, only Nymeria and the other wolves.” Sansa tells her her eyes closed as she thinks back. “Me too, I only ever see Lady and the other wolves in my dreams.” Arya agrees and Sansa thinks quietly for a while. “Okay. So let's just assume that we can connect to them. Maybe we can tell them where we are and they can come to us?” Sansa asks hoping she won’t laugh at her.

“I don’t see why not. Can’t hurt to try at least.” Arya finally says and then she gets up. “I’ll be back,” Arya says and darts off again leaving Sansa to her thoughts as the dark creeps in. Sansa focuses on the sounds of the forest, she can hear the camp distantly but they seem quiet. Sansa thinks of Lady, but she’s worried that someone might stumble upon her so she keeps starting at any noise she hears around her. It’s a while before Arya is back, but she’s a very welcome sight since she brings with her food. “Oh my god Arya.” Sansa cries quietly and quickly demolishes the food and licks her fingers clean. “I know it’s not much, it’s all I could get,” Arya tells her. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” Sansa assures her. “Can you stay for a minute I want to try something,” Sansa asks and Arya nods. Sansa puts her hands over her ears and focuses hard on Lady this time. She puts everything else out of her mind and just thinks Lady, Lady, Lady, Lady, Lady, Lady. And suddenly everything seems different and she looks around and sees Nymeria cuddled up to her and not Arya. Sansa nudges Nymeria and looks into her eyes. She thinks as hard as she can about herself and Arya tries to explain where they are, that they need help. Nymeria howls and Sansa joins her only to come back to herself with her sister on top of her, her hands clamped over her mouth. “Shhhhh.” Arya is shushing her desperately. Sansa struggles and Arya lets her up. “If I’d known you were going to howl like that I wouldn’t have let you do whatever that was,” Arya says in a rushed hiss and then quiets as they can hear someone coming. “Arry?” A boy's voice yells and Arya jumps to her feet and rushes off in the direction of the voice. 

Sansa draws back into the shadows and stays as silent as she’s able to. Sansa can hear her sister rushing through the forest away from her and she mentally kicks herself for almost giving them away. The forest quiets again and Sansa is alone. She unrolls the bedroll and beds down for her first night sleeping alone ever. Surprisingly it doesn’t take her long to fall asleep. Sansa dreams of Lady and Nymeria again and she does her best to communicate to both wolves that they need to come south and find them. Sansa tries to figure out where the wolves are, but they don’t run past anything that she recognizes. She wakes with the taste of blood in her mouth and she stays still listening to her surroundings not sure what woke her. It’s quiet and Sansa slowly rises and re-rolls her bedroll. She listens to the forest as it comes awake with the rising sun. It’s beautiful and so peaceful. She’s glad to be out of the city and she’s filled with hope that she and Arya will soon be back in Winterfell.

She’s broken out of her thoughts when she hears someone approaching. She hopes it’s Arya, but she can’t be sure. She grabs her things and hides behind a tree again. “Sans.” Arya whispers and Sansa emerges. “Morning.” Sansa greets with a smile. “Morning, they are packing up so I came to give you this. I won’t be able to see you again until tonight. I’ll try and always go off to the right if I can. Here.” Arya says and hands her a waterskin, a knife and a piece of bread and cheese. “Thank you, Arya,” Sansa says and takes a drink grateful for the supplies. Arya nods and dashes off back towards the camp. Sansa tucks the knife into her belt and hangs the skin as well. She puts the bedroll over her shoulder and starts to walk a little closer to the camp. She doesn’t want to get too far behind them.

Sansa stays behind the caravan walking through the forest on the side of the road. She keeps close enough that she can hear them, but not see them. They are a fairly large group so it’s not all that difficult. They walk all day again and only when it starts to get dark does the group move off the road to make camp. Sansa again stays away and watches as best she can to see where her sister will go off into the woods so that she can follow her. There she goes off to the right like she promised she would. Sansa backtracks a bit and keeps well away from the group of Night Watch recruits making camp. She finally finds her sister and is impressed with herself when she actually startles her. “Sansa you scared me!” Arya whisper shouts at her. “How was your day?” Sansa asks her voice rough with disuse. “It was okay, lots of walking. I’ve been talking with Gendry loads, he’s pretty quiet though.” Arya tells her chattering away happily. Sansa looks around and wanders a little further away and finally finds what seems like it could be an okay place to bed down. She puts her bedroll down and sits cross-legged on the ground. “Who’s Gendry?” Sansa finally asks and Arya stops chattering. “He’s my friend,” Arya says clearly defensive. “Is he the one who helped you with those other boys?” Sansa asks gently and Arya nods with a blush. “Did you dream of Nymeria and Lady again?” Sansa asks and Arya nods. “I did as well. I tried my best to explain that we needed them to come south to us. They seem to be travelling, I’m just not sure where they are.” Sansa tells her and Arya nods again. “It seemed like they understood where they were going in my dream,” Arya says her voice small. “It did?” Sansa asks. “I don’t know,” Arya says and shrugs her shoulders. “I’ve got to go, I’ll bring you food soon,” Arya says and jumps up and runs off.

Sansa settles down and listens to the forest around her. She can hear the camp in the distance and she sits quietly as the shadows lengthen and the forest quiets. She can hear someone coming, but she’s almost positive it’s Arya so she remains where she is without moving. Arya comes out of the darkness quietly and hands her some food and sits next to her leaning into her side. “How did you see Nymeria and Lady in the forest the other day?” Arya asks her quietly as Sansa devours the roasted meat and sucks her fingers clean. “I’m not sure I just thought of her really, really hard. I thought her name in my head over and over and over until my vision changed and instead of you I saw Nymeria.” Sansa tells her just as quietly. They sit quietly together and Sansa can hear Arya’s breathing change and she turns to look at her sister and is shocked to see her eyes are white. She stares at her sister for a moment and then focuses on their surroundings again and is thankful that everything is quiet. She waits a minute and then shakes her sister until her eyes return to her normal grey. 

“Whoa!” Arya breathes as they stare into one another’s eyes. “Your eyes were white,” Sansa tells her and Arya gasps. “Lady and Nymeria are still travelling south they are near a river, a big river and their pack of little wolves are still with them,” Arya tells her and Sansa smiles. “A big river,” Sansa repeats and thinks which river that could be. “I’ve got to get back,” Arya says and off she goes again. Sansa is left alone with her thoughts and the sounds of the quiet forest. Sansa can hear a stream off in the distance and wonders if she should try and visit it. The camp seems to be quiet for the night and Sansa decides to visit the stream. She straps her things to her body again and pads quietly through the dark forest and carefully approaches the stream. She kneels and washes her hands and face and fills her water skin. She finishes and returns to the clearing she’d selected and unrolled her bedroll and beds down for the night.

She dreams of running as Lady again. She pays attention to their surroundings but mostly just enjoys the run, the feelings of freedom and pack. Sansa starts awake again and stays still listening to the sounds of the forest. It’s quiet but getting lighter so she gets up and gets ready for the day. She waits quietly for her sister, who again comes bearing bread and cheese. Arya doesn’t stay long before she’s off back to the camp. Sansa follows and waits for them to move again. They walk through the day again and Sansa lets her mind wander as she walks. 

They carry on like this for another sennight and a bit until one evening Arya comes rushing over to her little clearing and launches herself at her. “The gold cloaks caught up with us. They had a warrant and I was so sure it was me they were looking for, but it was Gendry. I’m so worried Sansa. Some of the boys might give him up. I asked him and he said that both of the King's Hands came to his shop and asked after him. First Jon Arryn and then father came too. And he knows Sansa, he knows I’m a girl. I told him who I was.” Arya tells her in a rush. “Arya!” Sansa cries out quietly. “Why would you tell him who you are?” Sansa asks giving her a little shake. “He’s my friend,” Arya tells her defensively and pushes away and stands up.

“Well, the gold cloaks are going to come back and soon. We have to leave.” Sansa says with urgency. “I don’t want to leave without Gendry, they’ll kill him.” Arya whines and Sansa huffs and sits back down hard. “Fine, go back and see what you can grab that will be useful and ask him to come with us. Get some pots of some kind too for cooking. But Arya if he gives you up then I’ll be alone out here. The direwolves are close I think. Wait a minute will you please keep watch?” Sansa tells her sister who finally relents and sits in front of her fidgeting and frustrated. Sansa sighs and closes her eyes and thinks hard about Lady. 

It’s faster this time, she’s been practicing since it’s all they have to do out here now. She can tell they are close. Sansa tells Lady about the soldiers, tells her where she and her sister are waiting close by the group of men and wagons. Lady nudges Nymeria and Nymeria howls, Sansa refrains from howling with difficulty. Sansa opens her eyes and finds Arya staring hard into her eyes. “They are close, I can hear Nymeria,” Arya tells her and Sansa nods and Arya jumps up and runs back to the camp. Sansa sits quietly and listens to the sounds of the darkening forest. It seems like forever before she hears footsteps and she’s worried and almost goes and hides behind a tree when she remembers that Arya said she was going to bring Gendry. She can hear her sister now. “You’re so loud, walk quieter stupid.” Arya whisper yells at her friend and Sansa can’t help but giggle. She’s still smiling when Arya and her friend come into view. She can hear the boy gasp and she sees Arya grin.

Sansa stands up and gets her first good look at this boy that her sister has befriended. “This is my sister Sansa,” Arya says and Sansa nods. “Hello,” Sansa says and then turns sharply when she hears something coming from behind them. They are all very quiet and it’s full dark now and it takes a while for Sansa to realize what she is seeing. “It’s good you got here when you did,” Sansa says and starts to walk forward deeper into the forest. “Sans?” Arya says, but she can hear them following her. The shapes of the wolves become clearer as they near the pack. Sansa hears Gendry’s gasp and Arya’s words of comfort. Lady and Nymeria are huge, they are as big as horses now. Sansa moves towards Lady ignoring everyone else. Finally, she thinks and buries her fingers into her fur and hugs her direwolf tightly. 

Eventually, she steps away and she can see that Arya has also reunited with Nymeria she turns and sees Gendry is standing alone shaking surrounded by the rest of the wolf pack. “Oh,” Sansa says and laughs a little. “Arya,” Sansa says and when her sister looks at her she nods towards Gendry. Arya laughs and darts over to Gendry. “It’s okay stupid. These are our wolves. This is Nymeria and that’s Lady.” Arya tells him and both direwolves decide to introduce themselves. “What’s going on? Why are there so many wolves?” Gendry says as quietly as he can, his voice reedy and thin as the direwolves circle the boy and sniff at him, clearly making him nervous. Lady comes back to her side and Nymeria to Arya’s and Gendry relaxes a little bit. “Alright, we need to get out of here and avoid the gold cloaks and then head north,” Sansa says her voice only just above a whisper and Arya nods and they start to walk away from the camp deeper into the forest back the way the wolves had come.

They aren’t very far away when they start to hear sounds of screaming and fighting. Both Nymeria and Lady turn back for a moment and then keep padding forward. “There’s nothing we can do for them, we can’t fight a whole army,” Sansa says and they keep walking in silence. Eventually, the wolves find somewhere to bed down and they make a small camp. The wolves bed down around the edges and the three of them unroll their bedrolls and lay them out near one another. She sleeps more soundly that night than she had since she left Winterfell. She jerks awake and lays quiet listening to the forest before she slowly gets up. 

She wonders what they will do for food for a moment until she sees Lady padding towards her with a rabbit in her jaws. Lady drops the rabbit at her feet and pads over to where the others are still laying. She brings the rabbit over near Arya and then goes and finds sticks and rocks and starts to make a fire. Arya and Gendry are both awake now and luckily Gendry is very helpful when it comes to fires and he takes over getting it going. Arya has started skinning the rabbit and she notices that Nymeria is gone and hopes that she comes back with another rabbit as well. They are in luck Nymeria does return with two rabbits and Arya heaps praise upon her direwolf while Sansa lays against Lady and pushes her fingers through her fur while her mind wanders.

Soon enough the meat is ready and they are happily eating their fill. She notices that the other wolves have gone off to hunt as well. Sansa feeds the last of her meal to Lady and they smother the fire and get ready to leave. They continue walking and Sansa listens to Arya and Gendry bicker, it’s cute she thinks. They continue walking for the next couple of days without seeing anyone else. The first time Gendry is shocked when as they walk wolves would appear and drop prey at his feet. At first, he is too shocked to do anything so Arya picks it up and slung it onto her belt and they carried on. The next time Gendry picks it up and slung it onto his belt and gives Arya a rare smile and they continue along. The weather had been good for the Riverlands, Sansa thought to herself. It’d only rained a little as they walked north with the Night’s Watch, but she knew that they would have to expect more rain and then colder nights as they march north to Winterfell. She smiled to herself as she thought of home.

They are sitting around a fire at night their belly’s full as they lay against their direwolves and watch the night sky. “We need to find out what is going on,” Sansa says into the quiet night air. “How are we to do that?” Arya replies. “We need to find an Inn and listen to the gossip. Maybe we can find a way to send a Raven to Winterfell.” Sansa says and neither responds, not that she expected them to. Gendry she’d discovered is unusually quiet, he only ever really spoke to Arya and only when she annoyed him enough.

The next day they are walking like normal and Sansa notices that they are getting close to the road. She looks to Arya and nods to the road where she can see and hear wagons and people travelling. They notice the wolves peel back and away from the road fanning ahead and behind to keep watch for danger or food. It seems like they were nearing some sort of town or inn like she’d hoped. They carefully approach keeping to the forest watching as people come and go. It didn’t seem like any soldiers are about so Sansa thought it was probably safe enough for them to venture into the inn. The only problem is they have no coin at all. 

Sansa and Arya are hidden near the road watching and the wolves had ventured deeper into the forest not wanting to stay so near to the town. Gendry too went off for a moment and it was getting dark. “We have no coin.” Sansa finally mentioned the glaringly obvious hitch in their plan. Arya simply shrugged and kept watching the road as they had been for hours. She hears someone behind them but assumed it was Gendry coming back at least until someone grabbed her and she let out a shriek and struggled. “Let my sister go.” Arya threatens as she pulls her sword off her belt and holds it out in front of her. Sansa struggles in the disgusting smelling man's arms, but can’t get loose. “I don’t think I will. This one's a ripe one, gonna fuck her bloody. You best put that down little boy before you hurt yourself.” The man says and his breath is nauseating and Sansa gags a little. Suddenly Arya stood a little straighter and smirks and then she is falling forward. 

She hits the ground and the man lands on top of her. She grunts and wiggles and then the man's weight is off her back and she turns over and stands up. Gendry stands over the man a large stick in his hand breathing a little harder than normal. “Thank you,” Sansa says quietly and Gendry turns to look at her and shrugs. Arya jolts into movement and suddenly she is picking through the man’s person and his belongings. Arya lets out a triumphant yelp and holds up a purse and then gives the man a kick and darts off behind Gendry to examine her findings. “Well it’s not much but it’ll get us a meal and some ale at least,” Arya says and Gendry shrugs looking down at the man again. 

“What about him?” Gendry says with a deep frown and Sansa has no idea what to do either. “We kill him! Obviously!” Arya says and Sansa is only a little shocked. “He was going to rape you, Sans,” Arya says and huffs. She pulls her sword out again and Gendry makes a noise. “I’ll do it.” He says and Arya rolls her eyes. They wait for a few moments both looking at Gendry who’s looking at the man. When suddenly Arya darts forward and puts her sword straight through the man’s throat. Blood gushes out down his chest and Gendry groans. “Are we going into the inn or what?” Arya says and Sansa turns towards the inn and they begin to walk away from the dead man. “You didn’t have to do that,” Gendry says and Arya snorts. “I know, neither did you,” Arya responds and they quiet as they get nearer to the inn.

They walk into the building keeping quiet, hoping not to draw too much attention. She looks down at her clothes and sighs. They find a place to sit and a serving girl comes over and Sansa can see that she is looking interestedly at Gendry who’s completely oblivious. “Welcome to the Darry Inn. What can I get you three?” The serving girl welcomes. They order food and ale and sit quietly listening to the people talk around them. It’s been nearly a moon since she’d been around so many people. She finds she doesn’t miss it, finds she’d rather stay in the forest with the wolves than this crowded inn with all these loud smelly drunk people. Her lip curls in distaste and she focuses on the cup of ale the serving girl had sloshed in front of her.

Suddenly she hears someone speaking near enough to hear them properly. “They say that the Stark girls escaped Kings Landing.” One person says and yet another says “King Joffery killed Lord Stark and now his son is King in the North, Stannis is King, Renly is King, How many Kings are there now?” And yet another group “They killed babies and children, anyone with dark hair and blue eyes without a father.” “They say he rides his wolf into battle.” “They say he turns into a wolf.” “Well, it is true that he hasn’t lost a battle yet.” 

Sansa isn’t sure if she can take any more news and is quickly eating her meal and drinking her ale. While she’d never liked ale before, it was different than the stream water they been drinking so she didn’t mind it too much. Finally, they are finished, Sansa did her best not to draw attention to them as they all stood and quietly left the inn. As soon as they walked into the forest Sansa let out the breath that she’d been holding since she stood up from the table. Once in the cover of the forest they picked up speed and hurried further into the forest. Sansa leading them towards the wolf pack. She’s not sure how she knows where they are, only that she does. They find their pack in a clearing and they quickly make a fire and lay out their bedrolls. They bed down for sleep without a word from any of them.

Sansa wakes quickly and listens to the soothing sounds of the forest. She looks for Lady and not seeing her she quickly finds herself seeing out of her eyes off in the forest hunting for rabbits to break our fast. Sansa gets up and starts to get things ready for the rabbits that she knows are coming soon. She’d been finding things in the forest as they travelled, mushrooms and other edible plants. Soon Arya and Gendry are awake and they make their meal quietly. The wolves prowl around more restless than they have been since they started travelling with them. “I think we can agree we should avoid towns and roads for a while.” Sansa finally says and Arya laughs. 

“The dye was a good plan, but now you have black hair and blue eyes like Gendry.” Arya finally says and they look back and forth at one another. “Your hair’s not black?” Gendry says. “No, it's red like our mums,” Sansa says and Gendry frowns although to be fair he seems to frown a lot. “Black is better than red at least for now. Maybe we could cut your hair?” Sansa says and Gendry shrugs and rolls his eyes. “I still don’t understand what the big deal is,” Gendry mutters and Arya growls. “You said that both Hands of the King came to your shop and asked you questions about your mum. And you have no idea who your father is.” Arya says exasperation clear in her voice, they have clearly had this argument a few times before. “So,” Gendry says back and yelps when Arya grabs his head and starts to hack at his hair with her knife. “Wait. Stand up let me look at you for a moment.” Sansa says and moves to stand in front of him. “Hmmm,” Sansa says and waves towards Arya and goes to sit back down and think. 

“I think you might be King Roberts bastard.” Sansa finally says after thinking it through for a while. “What!” Arya shrieks. “None of Cersei’s children look like Robert, but Gendry does. Robert, Stannis and Renly all have black hair with blue eyes so does Stannis’s daughter Shireen. All Baratheon’s have black hair and blue eyes, except Cersei’s children - who are all blond with green eyes just like their mother.” Sansa explains and no one says anything for a while. Arya continues to cut Gendry’s hair until it’s quite short. As soon as they are finished they pack up and start to walk again. 

They walk for a while in silence. “So where are we headed now?” Arya finally asks. “North. Well, west and then north.” Sansa says and they keep walking. Eventually, the sky grows dark and they find a clearing and bed down for the night. They light a fire and cook their meal mostly in silence. “Are we heading for Riverrun?” Arya asks and Sansa shakes her head and they let sleep take them. They continue along and before long they have to cross the River Road. The pack slinks across quickly and disappears into the forest on the other side. The next day they encounter the Red Fork river that is almost narrow enough to wade across, but not quite. They pause by the shore and watch as some of the wolves go ahead and swim across the river. Sansa looks to Lady who after giving her a look she looks across the river. “Well, it looks like we cross here,” Sansa says and isn’t surprised when Gendry balks. “What! No, I can’t swim.” Gendry says and Arya attempts to calm him. Lady nears her and crouches near her and nudges her knee. 

“Oh!” Sansa says and climbs onto Lady’s back, Lady rises to her feet and heads for the river. She can hear her sister yelling at her, but Lady has no trouble getting her across the river. She dismounts on the other side and stares across at her travelling companions still on the other side of the river. She watches amused as Arya cajoles and bullies Gendry into riding Nymeria. She laughs to herself as they make their way across the river on Nymeria’s back. Arya jumps down and then Gendry too dismounts much less gracefully. Sansa can’t help but laugh at the look on his face. “What!” Gendry grouses and stalks off in the direction the first couple of wolves that crossed went. 

Sansa and Arya walk side by side for a while giving Gendry some space. They walk for a while until it starts to get dark and they make camp again. The wolves are agitated for some reason and they keep darting off in twos and threes as they roast their evening meal over the fire. It’s late and they are almost ready to turn in when they hear a howl off in the distance and both Lady and Nymeria perk up and Nymeria darts off. “Smother the fire,” Arya says and Gendry is quick to do so. Lady stays where she is, but Sansa can tell she is alert and so are the rest of them. Lady gives a huff and the rest of the wolves scatter in the forest and Lady slinks off after them. “Where are they going?” Gendry asks his fingers tight around his knife. Sansa closes her eyes and when she opens them she sees what Lady sees, hears what Lady hears. And oh that’s the problem there are men nearby. She opens her eyes and see’s Gendry’s wide eyes. She looks at Arya and notices her eyes are white. “There are men nearby, the wolves are surrounding them.” Sansa answers and she’s about to return to Lady when Gendry asks. “How do you know that, and why are your eyes white?” “We are seeing through the direwolves and we’re not really sure. Don’t worry.” Sansa says and returns to Lady. She can see that there are ten men in their group all with weapons and horses, but no banners that she can see. They seem to be heading away from their camp and don’t seem to have noticed the wolves nor the fire that they have since put out. Sansa returns to herself. 

“It should be okay, they seem to be moving away from us,” Sansa says and she’s not sure if Gendry is actually reassured or not. Sansa and Gendry both look to Arya and see that she is still white-eyed, still with Nymeria. Lady pads back into the clearing and lays down next to her and Sansa gets up and unrolls her sister's bedroll. “Let's get her into her bed, she’ll stay with Nymeria until we are safe,” Sansa says and she and Gendry move Arya into her bedroll sandwiched between Lady and Gendry, Sansa puts hers on the other side of Lady. They don’t relight the fire that night. Slowly one by one the wolves pad back into the clearing and lay down as well and Sansa drifts off to sleep exhausted.

Sansa wakes and listens to the forest and Lady’s quiet breath before she rises and starts their morning routine. Nymeria pads into the clearing three rabbits in her mouth and Sansa takes them gratefully. “Thank you, Nym,” Sansa says and starts to prepare them. Arya and Gendry finally wake and soon they are sitting by the fire eating together. “I followed them to their hideout. It’s a cave a bit northwest of here, we’ll have to be careful to avoid them today.” Arya tells them finally. “Did you find anything out? Who are they? They carried no banners that I saw.” Sansa says. “They seem to be outlaws of some sort, m’ not sure,” Arya says with a shrug. “Maybe we should go back to the river and go further west?” Sansa suggests and both Arya and Gendry shrug.

They head back towards the river and Sansa walks with Lady leaving Gendry and Arya to their bickering. It’s later in the day when she hears them talking again. “That one is called Blacky, and that one is Bad Ear, and that one is…” Arya is saying and Sansa can’t help but laugh at her sister's antics. Although it is a good idea to name their pack she supposed. “Arya which ones haven’t you named yet?” Sansa asks and Arya huffs and points out a few. “I’m going to name you Alise, and you you are Jaxar.” Sansa proclaims and laughs when Arya pouts. “Is Nymeria keeping an eye out?” Sansa asks and Arya nods. They stop walking and Arya’s eyes go white. “It’s super creepy when you guys do that, you know,” Gendry mutters under his breath. “Well, it’s also super useful.” Sansa retorts and ignores him. Arya finally returns to herself and nods. They keep walking west along the river bank. They come upon another inn not long before dark and they look at one another and decide to head into the forest instead of the inn. ‘We don’t have any coin anyways.’ Sansa thinks to herself pleased they can remain in the forest with their pack. 

They head straight north now and deeper into the forest. “We should be okay for a while now to head north, that was the Inn of the Kneeling Man I think so we are very close to Riverrun. We’ll go north towards Fairmarket instead though.” Sansa says as they sit around the fire after their evening meal. “What is the plan, Sansa.” Arya finally demands. “We need to head for the Twins and wait for Robb.” Sansa says and Arya balks. “The Twins!” Arya shouts. “Well not the castle itself, but I think they must be heading there. Father is dead and we are not in King’s Landing anymore. Robb should be heading north.” Sansa reasons with a shrug. “Alright, I guess.” Arya agrees and they turn in for the night. 

They slowly make their way north avoiding towns and roads. They arrive at the next river and Gendry is quicker to mount Nymeria this time, leaning down to help Arya up. Sansa smiles and they wade across the Blue Fork with their pack just a ways away from Fairmarket. “Alright it’s not far now to the Twins, we’ll follow the Green Fork up,” Sansa tells them as they dismount on the other side and continue on into the forest. “Do you think we should try and find out some more information?” Arya wonders as they eat their evening meal. “Probably.” Sansa agrees. 

The next day they head north, but the wolves fan out looking for other travellers. When they find them Nymeria and Lady go near enough for Arya or Sansa to listen in on their conversations. It’s a few days later that they come across a group of men also heading north. Lady finds them and she and Sansa crouch in the bushes listening to them talk around the fire all night. When Sansa returns to herself, leaving Lady to make her way back to their camp alone she is beside herself with anger. She jostles Arya and Gendry awake. “The Boltons are working with the Lannisters and the Frey’s against Robb. They plan to kill them all at uncle Edmure’s wedding at the Twins. It’s soon.” Sansa tells them and they both stare for a moment and then Arya explodes. “That pale-eyed creepy bastard,” Arya shouts and stomps around for a while. Finally, she returns to her bedroll and sits down. “What do we do?” Arya wonders and Sansa doesn’t know. Sansa shakes her head and shrugs. “Let's figure it out in the morning,” Sansa says and they bed down for the night.

They wake and break their fast in silence and this time they don’t jump up and march further north as they have every day in what seems like forever. They stay sitting at the slowly dying fire staring into its flames hoping for some sort of answer. It’s midmorning when Arya finally speaks. “Well, we have to get Robb’s attention before he gets to the Twins.” And Sansa smiles. “Yes Arya of course we do, but how?” Sansa says. “What about Grey Wind?” Arya asks and Sansa gasps and jumps to her feet and starts to pace. “Who’s Grey Wind?” Gendry asks and Sansa doesn’t listen as Arya explains, she’s busy thinking about how that might work. “It could work Arya, maybe Lady and Nymeria can find Grey Wind,” Sansa says and they both look to their direwolves who are sleeping next to one another taking advantage of the slow morning. “What else did they say?” Arya asks. “Well it sounded like Robb and Mother are at Riverrun for Grandfather Hoster's funeral and that they had to go to the Twins within a fortnight of some meeting with some Frey’s, which happened before these guys left Riverrun,” Sansa says. “So Robb is probably right behind us then,” Arya says excitedly and Sansa nods.

“Alight so we need to keep an eye on the south and see if we can find their scouts or even better find Grey Wind,” Sansa says and they all nod to agree. “So are we staying here then?” Gendry asks. “We might as well for now,” Sansa says and everybody relaxes once more. The wolves come and go through the day and Arya and Gendry head off at some point to do something or another. Sansa stays close by and rests with Lady. It's nearing mid-afternoon when Nymeria and Lady both rise and nod to Sansa and then pad off south. Sansa waits for Arya and Gendry to return before she joins Lady as soon as she arrives they split up and Nymeria stalks further west while Lady continues almost due south searching out any other travellers who might have news that they might find useful. It’s getting dark and Lady is getting hungry, when she spots a doe Sansa doesn’t hesitate and takes the deer down. The blood is hot in her mouth and Sansa howls and then leaves Lady to her kill. 

Gendry is looking at her strangely when she returns to herself. “What?” Sansa asks and Gendry shakes his head and refuses to say anything. Sansa realizes that she’s hungry herself and is glad to see that Gendry has been busy getting their evening meal ready while they hunted with their direwolves. “You should get Arya back, she should eat something,” Sansa tells him as she tucks into her meal. She watches as Gendry gently shakes her sister calling her name softly until Arya jolts and comes back to herself and pushes Gendry away from her. “Food.” Gendry grunts and shuffles back over to his spot by the fire. Arya rolls her eyes, but gets up and goes over to him and she can’t hear what she says but Gendry shrugs and Arya takes her portion and sits and eats in silence. 

“Find anything?” Arya says with her mouth full. “Just a deer,” Sansa tells her as she licks her fingers clean. “Mmmm how far away?” Arya says and Sansa thinks. “We got pretty far south, crossed the Blue Fork and Lady was pretty hungry,” Sansa tells her and takes a drink from her water skin. “Nym too. We went southwest and so far we haven’t seen anything yet.” Arya says and continues to eat her meal. Sansa slips back into Lady and finds that she has mostly eaten the deer and is ready to continue along. Lady howls again and they lope off south. It’s not long before they hear someone coming and Lady crouches down and they wait silently listening. It’s that same group of men again, the ones without the banners. She hears them talking about the Hound? What is he doing out of Kings Landing? And everything else doesn’t make any sense to her. She stays quietly listening until they pass by and then Sansa decides to head back to camp. She heads west for a while and then north hoping to run into Nymeria on her way back. It’s not long before she does find Nymeria, she’s got her own deer kill. 

Lady waits while her sister eats her fill and then she picks up one of the legs and she pads off after her sister. She’s slower getting back since she’s carrying the deer leg, but Sansa is quite interested in eating said deer leg so she’s invested in carrying it all the way to camp. Finally, she pads into camp and Sansa returns to herself and it takes her a minute to stand on her stiff legs. She walks to where Lady dropped the deer leg and hoists it up and brings it back towards the fire. “Guess what we brought back!” Sansa says joyfully not realizing that both Arya and Gendry had long since gone to sleep and she has now woken them both. At least Arya seems pleased before she quickly went back to sleep. But she’d not known anyone so grumpy before they’d met Gendry. She’s sure she learnt new swear words just now. “Well, you’re no fun.” She says and finds a good spot for the deer leg and then goes and finds her bedroll and promptly falls into a deep sleep.

It’s probably the first time during their travels that she doesn’t wake up first. When she wakes up she can hear Arya and Gendry arguing about the deer leg. Mostly how to cook it and so on. “It’s my deer leg, so shouldn’t I get to be the one to decide,” Sansa says to let them know that she’s awake. “It’s part of Nym’s kill so technically…” Arya tries and Sansa snorts. “I carried it all the way back here it’s mine,” Sansa tells her and Arya huffs. “Fine.” 

It’s two days later that they finally get some success and locate a Northern scout, while they are scouting with Nymeria and Lady. Luckily Nymeria had decided to go way west and from there they waited to see where they needed to go. It didn’t take long to realize that they needed to move further north and west if they wanted to meet with the army as they travelled to the Twins. They quickly pack up their camp and since they need to move much quicker than before they rode Nymeria and Lady, much to Gendry’s dissatisfaction. Sansa chuckles as they race north listening to Gendry and Arya bicker. They are approaching another river when Sansa yells at them. “Give it a rest you too, the whole Northern army will hear you if you keep it up.” They are blessedly silent for a while after that. 

A few more hours riding northwest and they notice another scout. Nymeria let out a howl and they dart north away from the scout. Lady let out a long howl and they slow and find a clearing to make camp. The other wolves stay close for a bit and then they left to keep watch. Every so often Nymeria would dart off but come back quickly. They are eating their evening meal when Grey Wind pads into their camp. Lady and Nymeria bound over and they greet one another playfully and then return to their places. 

Arya jumps up to greet him. “Grey Wind!” Arya yells and the direwolf approaches slowly and greets Arya and then Sansa, he moves towards Gendry. Gendry stands up and luckily he’s been around the wolves so long at this point he didn’t even seem afraid like he was that first night. Grey Wind simply sniffs him and then pads around the camp a bit and then howls a long howl. Both Lady and Nymeria join in and then all the little wolves did as well and the forest sounds alive with wolves as they are all still staggered through the forest. It didn’t take long for the other wolves to return and Grey Wind growls at them as they approach. “It’s okay Grey Wind. They are pack too.” Sansa says and Grey Wind turns to look at her and stares for a moment, but he doesn’t growl anymore. The wolves all come into the clearing and slowly they greet Grey Wind and then find their places and lay down. 

Grey Wind stays for a while longer and then he gives Sansa one more long look and then he pads off. Sansa gives Arya and Gendry a smile as they watch Lady follow Grey Wind leaving Nymeria behind at camp. Sansa as Lady lopes through the forest behind Grey Wind they run quickly and soon cross a small river. She can see the army camped out on the Muir. Lady and Grey Wind pad through the camp. The soldiers seem used to Grey Wind, but they are shocked to see Lady. She can hear them talking about her as they pad through the tents looking for Robb and mother. Finally, Grey Wind enters a large tent near the centre of the camp and inside is Robb and their mother. 

Her brother stands and stares. “Lady?” Robb says and Sansa is so glad to see Robb that she rushes up to him and jumps onto him. Robb laughs even if she did knock him down. Sansa steps back and lets her brother up. “Grey where did you find Lady?” Robb asks and she starts to head for the door. She pauses at the door and looks back at Robb who looks confused. Sansa leaves the tent but waits outside. It’s only a moment and she can hear her mother asking Robb what is going on, but Robb does come out of the tent. She moves further away and looks back at Robb again and waits. As Robb comes closer she turns and heads back out of the camp stopping when Robb seems to slow or needs to be encouraged forward. Grey Wind brings up the rear as Robb follows her back through the camp. She can hear the men talking about them even more now, wondering who she is, and where their King is going.

Finally, she and Grey Wind have led Robb out of the camp, but at the edge, Robb hesitates and starts to head back. She growls at him and darts forward to grab his sleeve. The moment she grabs his sleeve she tugs and whimpers at him. Finally, Robb relents and follows her. Unfortunately, some of his guards seem to be following. She turns and growls at them and nudges Robb to keep going by prodding him in the back with her mussel. Robb yells back at them to stay at the camp that he’ll be fine and be back before morning. Finally! Sansa tries everything to get him to get onto her back, but he is very stubborn. So she growls at Grey Wind and throws herself down to wait. Somehow Grey Wind convinces Robb to mount and finally, they can head back to the camp quickly. They run at top speed and Nymeria comes and greets them long before they arrive, prancing in front of them and then running alongside them, Grey Wind with Robb on his back in the middle. Nymeria lets out a howl and their pack responds with howls of their own. She can hear Robb gasp from Grey Winds back and when she knows they are close she returns to her own body. She stands and motions to Gendry to stand as well. “He’s here,” Sansa says and looks quickly at Arya who’s eyes are of course still white.

Finally, they come into the clearing and Arya comes back to herself. “Robb!” Arya yells and rushes to him as he dismounts with a shocked look on his face. “Arya! Sansa!” Robb yells and rushes towards her with Arya clinging to him like a barnacle. “I almost didn’t think you would follow me back here,” Sansa says as she hugs her brother for the first time in more than a year. “My god you guys stink. And what are you wearing!” Robb says and Arya quickly lets him go and moves away closer to Gendry. “Robb we have been travelling forever. We haven’t had much opportunity for baths since we left King’s Landing more than a moon ago right after they cut off fathers head.” Sansa yells at him and Robb seems mollified by her response. “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it truly. Sorry, Arya.” Robb says, but Arya doesn’t come any closer. “Why are you here?” Robb asks. 

“The better question is why are you here. And the answer is we have been looking for you. We’ve been travelling north with our wolf pack since we left King’s Landing with the Night's Watch. We’ve mostly stayed in the forest. We only went to an Inn once to hear the news and gossip since it’d been a while since we left the Night’s Watch caravan when the gold cloaks ambushed them. We’ve been sticking to the forest travelling north hoping to find you as you head back north. And we are so glad to have found you before you reached the Twins Robb.” Sansa says quickly. “The Night’s Watch! Who is this?” Robb finally asks nodding to Gendry. “This is Gendry and he’s my friend.” Arya introduces and Nymeria of course shows her support by standing next to him and staring at Robb. “Fine for now. How do you know we are headed to the Twins?” Robb asks. “I heard some Bolton men the other night. They are traitors Robb. They have sided with the Lannisters and the Frey’s. They plan to murder everyone at uncle Edmure’s wedding.” Sansa tells him and Robb is beyond shocked. “What do you mean you heard them?” Robb asks. “We don’t really understand how we do it, but we can. We can slip into our direwolves. See through them. It started as dreams, but it's more now. That was me at the camp. That was me that jumped on you when Grey Wind and I came into the tent where you and mother were.” Sansa tells him and Robb is silent for a long while. Arya and Gendry sit near one another and she can see Arya fidgeting in the silence.

“Aye. I’ve dreamt dreams like that as well,” Robb says quietly and they move to find a place to sit at the fire. “Sorry, we don’t have much,” Sansa says as she offers him her water skin. Robb takes a long drink and wipes his mouth, he hands the skin back and looks around their little camp. “You’ve been travelling this whole time with a pack of wolves?” Robb says incredulously. “What, just cuz we’re girls. Sorry Gen.” Arya bursts out and then quietly apologizes to her friend in the next breath. “Traveling with the wolves is easy. It was harder getting out of Kings Landing or the Red Keep truly.” Sansa tells him. “It’s true. With the wolves we can stay away from everyone else, we’ve made good time and they hunt for us too.” Arya tells him and Robb nods. “Well sounds damn pleasant, I wish I hadn’t told the guards I would back before morning,” Robb says and they all laugh. “What are you going to do about the Boltons and the Frey’s?” Sansa finally asks and Robb rubs his hands down his face. “I don’t know,” Robb admits and then looks up into the sky. “You know it's nice to admit that. I’ve missed you, girls.” Robb says and Sansa gets up and goes over to him and hugs him tight. She releases him and backs off again. “Sorry I know I smell. We really should find somewhere to bathe.” Sansa says and then mutters to herself and glares at Arya when she laughs at her. 

“How do you connect with your direwolves like that?” Robb finally asks after staring into the fire for a time. “I just concentrated really hard on Lady. Said her name in my head over and over and over. But then we’d been separated on the way to King’s Landing so she was really far away from us at the time.” Sansa tells him and Robb stares at her and then nods. “Alright, I’ll try,” Robb says and he’s quiet for a long time. The rest of the group try and wait silently giving him time. It’s not long before Robb’s eyes open and they are white. “God that’s creepy every time,” Gendry mutters under his breath and Arya hits him in the shoulder. “What!” Gendry says and then blushes when she just glares at him. They watch as Grey Wind pads around the camp inspecting everything and everyone once more. Finally, Robb’s eyes return to his normal blue. “Whoa. That is very cool.” Robb says with a grin and looks back and forth at his sisters smiling widely. “We know,” Arya says with her own answering smile.

They are quiet for a while until Robb finally starts to speak again. “At first things were good, we won battles and we moved south. But then father died and they made me King and then even more Kings started popping up. Theon betrayed us. I sent him to the Iron Islands to get ships and instead he went to Winterfell and sacked it. Bran and Rickon are dead.” Robb tells them and the forest explodes with howls. Sansa feels tears roll down her cheeks. “When?” Sansa asks. “It was just after father died that I sent him to treat with his father,” Robb explains and hangs his head and keeps speaking.

“Mother let Jamie Lannister go in hopes of trading for you both. She’s still under guard. And I had to behead Rickard Karstark after he killed some Lannister boys that were our prisoners. The Kingslayer had killed some of his sons on the battlefield, but he strangled another Karstark after he’d been our prisoner for a while. Rickard was furious. And Roose Bolton well he wants nothing but to torture our prisoners. Keeps talking about how a flayed man has no secrets. But the worst is the Frey’s. Mother promised my hand, and yours too Arya. Plus a bunch of squires and all for a bridge.” Robb tells them and as soon as Arya hears she’s betrothed she pops up and starts to pack up her things and they only barely notice her when she’d been moments from clamouring onto Nymeria’s back when Gendry jumped up. “Oi! Where are you going!” Gendry shouts and Robb and Sansa both jump up as well. “Far away from here. I’m not marrying some weaselly Frey. I’d rather die, or better yet I’ll kill him before we could be married.” Arya shouts back and continues on her journey. Gendry rushes over to her and tries to get her to come back. “Arya come back! The Frey’s will all be dead soon.” Robb yells and Arya freezes and huffs. They wait patiently until she finally dismounts and comes back to the fire. “And what’s to stop you and mother from marrying me off to the next weasel with a bridge or maybe next you’ll need ships? Didn’t work so well for you with Theon.” Arya says her hands on her hips glaring down at her brother.

“I didn’t marry the Frey mother promised me too. I met a healer from Volantis on the battlefield. Talisa and I have married, not long ago, and she’s already with child. Walder Frey has insisted that our uncle Edmure marry his daughter Roslin in my stead.” Robb tells them. “What about the rest of us? Arya’s right mother and father betrothed me to that mad Joffery and he, he, he. He’s awful Robb. If Nymeria hadn’t bit him… Joffery almost cut Arya down with his sword on the road to King’s Landing. And then Joffery lied about what happened. He said that we had attacked him and the Queen almost had our direwolves killed. Thank goodness Arya sent them away in time. But when the direwolves were gone they punished us instead. They gave us each ten lashes right there, ripped our dresses open and whipped us.” Sansa tells him with tears streaming down her cheeks. Robb moves over and wraps his arm around her and Sansa turns and cries into his shoulder. “He killed father, I saw from the statue of Baelor. They used Ice, they used his own sword Robb.” Sansa wailed and Robb simply held her until she finally quieted and fell asleep.

Sansa wakes up and is happy to see that Robb is still there. “Sorry about that, we haven’t even talked about it since that day,” Sansa tells him and he smiles back at her weakly. “I have to get back to the camp soon, it’ll be morning soon and the men will be anxious if I’m gone much longer,” Robb says and Sansa nods. “What have you decided to do?” Sansa asks. “I need to know who I can trust, you say Bolton is a traitor and I believe you. But what if there are others?” Robb says and Sansa looks to the direwolves. “We find out. Use Grey Wind and Arya and I can help too.” Sansa says and Robb grimaces. “I’d rather no one knows that you're here. At least not yet.” Robb says and then adds when he can see that she’s not pleased with his answer. “Hear me out. We need the element of surprise. If they are planning something at a wedding then they plan to violate guest rites.” Robb says and Arya growls and all of the wolves join in. “We can still help,” Arya says and Robb nods. “Yes, I want you to cut off the way south, catch anyone who flees south. And if you can help me figure out who we can trust beforehand I would appreciate it.” Robb says and Sansa nods so do Arya and Gendry. “Lady and Nymeria can go back to the camp with you just for a little bit,” Arya suggests. “No. One of them needs to stay here with you. Lady’s already been seen at the camp.” Robb says and Arya just shrugs. “Fine, we will start looking for scouts and anyone else we can find closer to the Twins then,” Arya says and Robb finally nods after staring at her for just a moment too long.

“I have map pieces showing our bannermen; take them off the table if we can’t trust them. And I want to send Talisa to you instead of taking her to the Twins. I will send her with Grey Wind.” Robb says and he gets to his feet. “We will keep her safe brother,” Sansa says and rises as well and hugs Robb. Arya hugs him as well and Robb even shakes Gendry’s hand before he heads over to Grey Wind and climbs onto his back. “You’ll be with me then sister?” Robb asks her and Sansa nods and looks to Lady who pads up to Grey Wind and nudges their heads together. “Be safe and only join us once the fighting is over,” Robb says and they turn and pad off into the slowly lightening forest. “Ugh I don’t know about you, but I’m knackered,” Arya says and Gendry smiles at her and Sansa rolls her eyes. “I’ll keep watch while you’re gone,” Gendry tells her as they watch Arya unroll her bedroll and slip into it.

Sansa waits a few more moments just watching her sister fall asleep. She unrolls her bedroll and gets comfortable and then she finds Lady. They run next to Grey Wind through the forest back to the camp. It’s not a long journey and soon they are crossing the river and padding into the camp. The camp is still fairly quiet, so Robb dismounts at his tent and nods to her as he goes inside. Lady and Grey Wind split up and explore the camp listening and exploring to find those who are awake. Soon the camp starts to wake in earnest and she starts to hear more people talking about the wedding. 

She finds the Glover banners and listens as they get ready. Lord Glover is a coward by the sounds of it and doesn’t like her new good-sister. It seems he doesn’t like much at all, but he also doesn’t like the Boltons so she moves on to the next group. She listens outside the Dustins and the Umbers. The Umbers are very upset over Rickard Karstark’s beheading. It’s getting late so she moves off to Robb’s tent. Grey Wind isn’t back yet when she arrives. Sansa notices that Robb is not alone in the tent. There is a very pretty Essosi looking woman who is sitting with Robb watching him with a worried expression on her face. Sansa moves over to the table with the map pieces and looks at it. She gently reaches down and takes the Umber piece and moves it to the Karstark lands, then she moves the Dustin piece to the Stark lands and the Glover piece she moves off into the sea past the bay of ice. 

Finally, Robb comes back to himself and she can hear her good-sister fussing over him. “Sansa what did you hear?” Robb whispers as he comes over to her. She nods to the pieces and Robb looks down and stares at the map for a while. “Why did you move them where you did?” Robb asks as he rubs his hands over his beard. She growls a little and nudges his side. “Is that who they were talking about?” Robb says and she nods her head and smiles, which makes Lady pant and loll her tongue out. Robb smiles at her and rubs her behind the ears. “Alright so the Umbers are upset about the Karstarks, not surprising I think a lot of people are upset about the Karstarks. And the Dustins, you moved them to the Starks. I’ll send Grey Wind over there later when I get a moment. And Glover that man is never happy with anything or anyone. But no Bolton sympathies right?” Robb says keeping his voice low so only they can hear them speak. Sansa nods again and Robb smiles again. “You better get back so that you can sleep some. Sorry I kept you up all night. I want to send Talisa with you now, will you wait?” Robb whispers and Sansa nods and goes to lay down with Grey Wind.

Sansa watches as Robb speaks with his new wife trying to convince her to go with the direwolves. Sansa is impressed with the amount of fight her good-sister puts up. Sansa rises and moves towards them and nudges Robb’s back. Sansa stares into her good-sister's eyes and looks back towards the tent flap. She turns back and presses her nose into her good-sister's belly where her niece or nephew is growing. She looks back into her good-sister's eyes and watches a tear runs down her cheek. “Alight. I’ll go with them.” Talisa finally says and Robb starts to rush around. “Change into something that you can ride in. It’s a fair ways and it’s not like riding a horse.” Robb says and Talisa starts to argue again and Sansa huffs and pads towards the tent flap and sticks her head out the door. Amazingly, they haven’t been interrupted yet. She watches the coming and goings and then she sees a group of Lords who are heading this way. She turns back in the tent and gives a short bark. Grey Wind leaps to his feet and they both rush over to Talisa and Robb. Robb straps a bedroll to her back and ties a water skin to her hip and Sansa grabs Talisa’s sleeve and Robb starts to push her towards the door as well. “It’s time to go, sweetling. You’ll be safe and I will see you soon.” Robb says and Sansa and Grey Wind hustle her out of the tent and take her out of the camp as quickly and quietly as they can. Talisa walks between them hiding her from view and once they are clear of the camp Grey Wind kneels and Sansa prods her gently towards his back until she climbs onto his back and Grey Wind stands and they start to run back to their camp.

Talisa is mostly quiet for the journey, she obviously doesn't realize that anyone can hear what she says. It’s mostly fear for Robb and what will happen next as well as the unknown that she is riding into on the back of a giant direwolf and how crazy her life has become. When they pad into their little camp Talisa lets out a shocked shriek at the sight of all the wolves milling about. She didn’t think she even noticed the three humans who are still asleep in their bedrolls. Sansa returns to herself and struggles to her feet. “Welcome good-sister,” Sansa says and Talisa stares at her shocked. Grey Wind kneels and Talisa scrambles off his back. Grey Wind nuzzles Talisa’s belly and then darts off back into the forest. “Where is he going?” Talisa asks as she stares in the direction of the camp. “Back to Robb. Robb wants you to stay with us while they deal with the Frey’s and Boltons. They plan to ambush them at the wedding.” Sansa tells her and Talisa gasps her hands covering her belly. “How?” Talisa asks as she leads her over to the others. 

Talisa takes her bedroll off her shoulder and they sit down. “We escaped from King’s Landing more than a moon ago and we’ve been travelling north with our wolves trying to find Robb. We came across some Boltons who were talking about the plan for the wedding. We had to warn Robb, he was here with us last night.” Sansa tells her. They sit quietly for a while. Soon Arya and Gendry wake and introduce themselves to Talisa. The wolves bring them rabbits and they get the fire going so that they can break their fast. As they sit around the fire Arya tells Talisa the names of all of their wolves. After Arya sends Nymeria out to scout Sansa is left to entertain their good-sister. 

“I don’t know how you live like this,” Talisa says gesturing to the wolves who are milling about. Some are play fighting, some are eating, and some are sleeping. “After spending so long in the Red Keep, wondering when something would happen. Spending all my time having tea and sewing with ladies at court. All the people suffering and starving in the city. It’s been nice to be in the quiet of the forest. We went to an Inn once, but we didn’t like it much. We’ve stuck to the forest ever since.” Sansa tells her and Talisa doesn’t say anything in reply. Sansa leaves her to her thoughts and starts to prepare their next meal. She’d discovered some wonderful mushrooms, and even some little onions nearby and is looking forward to the rabbit stew she was planning. 

“Why are her eyes white,” Talisa asks quietly. “Oh, she’s with Nymeria. They are scouting north towards the Twins.” Sansa tells her. “I don’t understand,” Talisa admits after a while. “It’s something with the Starks and their direwolves. I don’t understand either, but they somehow connect to their wolves.” Gendry tells her when Sansa hesitates just a little too long. She hadn’t noticed that he’d returned to camp. Gendry sits down next to Arya and Talisa continues to stare at Arya. Gendry glares at her and Sansa can’t help but giggle drawing her good-sister's attention. The stew is cooking over the fire when Arya comes back to herself. “I found a few Frey scouts. They are definitely in league with the Lannisters. Apparently, there will be Lannisters coming to the Twins soon.” Arya tells them and Sansa isn’t surprised, Tywin Lannister is not a fool. “Our job will be critical then, we can’t let anyone leave and warn them,” Sansa tells them and Arya and Gendry nod solemnly while Talisa frowns. “What do you mean?” Talisa asks. “We are going to fan out and stop anyone from leaving the Twins,” Sansa tells her gesturing to the wolves and Talisa gasps in shock.

“I’m going to go check on Robb and the army. Sansa tells them and she and Lady depart for the camp. Lady is swift on her feet and as they approach the camp she sees that there are only a few supply wagons and injured who still remain. Lady heads north and they keep to the forest as they overtake the long column of men, horses, wagons travelling north. Finally, Grey Wind finds her and they dart off ahead together. Grey Wind leads her to Robb and their mother who are riding together at the front of the army. Robb notices her and smiles. “Mother I’ll be right back,” Robb says and nudges his horse off into the trees. Sansa and Grey Wind follow him and as soon as they are out of hearing Robb starts to speak. “I’ve told mother and my most trusted commanders. The Mormonts and the Manderlys and the Reeds all know to expect betrayal. We will be prepared sister don’t worry.” Robb tells her and then turns his horse back to the column and rejoins the rest of his men. Grey Wind joins him and Sansa stays back, she creeps forward and crouches in the brush near enough to listen to the men as they ride by. 

Sansa listens and is shocked when she hears some of the men talking poorly of her brother and especially her mother. The men are very upset that she released Jamie Lannister. Finally, the column has passed her and she lopes off back to her own camp. She goes east and crosses the Green Fork and heads for the King's Road. Sansa follows the King's Road south for a while until she came upon travellers heading north. She crept along in the forest listening to them talk as they travelled. They are musicians headed to the Twins for the wedding. She leaves them and keeps heading south, she goes back west and crosses the river and heads back to their camp. It would be time to move north again soon. 

She left Lady and returns to herself. It is getting dark when she comes back to herself and everyone is sitting around the fire. Arya is stirring the stew and the smell is intoxicating. “Yum, let's eat that and then I think we might need to start heading north. The army will arrive late on the moro. We need to get into position. I found musicians travelling north to the Twins on the King's Road as well.” Sansa tells them as they start to dish out their meals. Gendry had carved them each a bowl and spoon and even some forks a while back and she sees now that he must have spent all day making a set for Talisa.

“Thank you Gendry,” Sansa tells him and smiles at his blush. They eat in silence and then they use the last of the light to pack up their camp. They head north and follow the Green Fork until they are inline with where Robb’s army had camped before. They stop for the night and quickly make camp. They unroll their bedrolls and they are fast asleep in moments. Sansa wakes and they quickly break their fasts and pack up their camp. Sansa and Arya send the direwolves off to scout and they send the other wolves off fanning out across, the all the way past the King's Road to the mountains and west to the sea. They sit nervously together waiting for word from the wolves. Sansa and Arya take turns checking in with Lady and Nymeria and the forest is quiet in the wake of the Northern army. 

They have situated themselves in the middle near the Green Fork only a few hours from the Twins on direwolf back and as the sun sets with no sign of anyone they relax and make camp again. They prepare their evening meal and they continue to check on the wolves periodically. As they are finishing their meal they hear a wolf howl in the distance towards the King's Road. Nymeria is closest so Arya goes to investigate. They wait quietly until Arya comes back to herself. “It was a Frey scout. We let him pass through.” Arya tells them and they continue to sit silently. Sansa connects with Lady and together they prowl closer to the Twins hoping to see what is happening. As they near she can see that Robb and the army have arrived. Most of their army is camped on this side of the castle near the Green Fork. 

She prowls into the camp listening and all seems to be quiet although there is an air of expectancy. Everyone is waiting for something to happen. She finds Grey Wind also prowling the camp and he brings her with him closer to the castle. She finds Robb and their mother they are meeting with their commanders giving last-minute instructions before they go into the castle. “Keep your eyes open,” Robb says as they leave the tent and head inside. Robb nods to her and she pads off back into the camp. She lingers for a bit listening until she knows she needs to retreat and heads off into the woods just out of sight. She crouches down and waits. 

As soon as she hears the start of the battle she quickly returns to herself to alert the others. “It’s started,” Sansa says and quickly returns to Lady. They stay at the edge of the forest waiting and watching for any Frey’s or Boltons who might attempt to flee south. It an age and full dark now when she sees a group of men on horses heading south for the King's Road. She darts off after them but quickly returns to tell Arya. “Arya it’s starting, about five men on horses heading south,” Sansa says and goes back to Lady, who’s caught up to them. She takes them out starting with the rear, she pulls them from their horses making sure to bite into their legs and torsos quickly and quietly. By the time she’s pulled three of them off their horses the first two have turned and have their swords out. She’s cautious but doesn’t shy away. She darts forward and aims for the horse this time. The horses spook and throw the riders, one gets caught underneath his mount. She quickly circles the man who rolled and scrambled to his feet. She launches at his back and tears his throat out, then finishes off the last one whose horse had run off back to the Twins leaving his leg crushed. With the men dead she darts back into the forest and heads back towards her original position to watch for anyone else. 

Once settled she quickly returns to give the others an update. “They are down, they won’t be alerting the Lannisters,” Sansa says and quickly gets back to Lady. She watches for hours until it’s clear that the Northern army had won and they had full control of the castle. She turns Lady back towards their camp and returns to herself once again. Sansa finally looks around at their little group. She and Arya are sitting slumped together while Gendry is near the fire whittling something probably another spoon of some sort. Talisa is sitting nearby staring into the fire. She clears her throat and found her water skin and took a long drink. “It’s over, the battle is over and we won,” Sansa tells them and both Talisa and Gendry shoot to their feet and turn to her. “So now we go to the Twins right?” Talisa asks and Sansa nods. Gendry starts to pack up the camp as they wait for Arya to return as well as Lady and Nymeria. Arya comes back to herself and takes a long drink from her water skin. “I found another couple of scouts, and a pair of Lannister scouts as well,” Arya tells them and they finish packing up their camp. Lady and Nymeria pad into the clearing just as they are ready to leave. Together they head north to the Twins, they don’t talk much as they walk. They leave the rest of the wolves spread out keeping watch for them. Nothing will be getting south this night.

As they near the Twins they can see the army camp the four of them walk between the two large direwolves. As they approach the camp they are finally noticed by the guards. “Who goes there!” Someone shouts. “Starks! Can’t you see the direwolves?” Arya yells back and the men let out a cheer. The cheer ripples through the camp and soon Grey Wind approaches with Robb at his side. They enter the camp and Sansa watches as Talisa and Robb reunite. Suddenly their mother rushes up and Sansa is crying into her mother's hair. “Oh, my babies.” Catelyn cries as she hugs her so tight Sansa fears she might break her ribs. 

Finally, they separate and Sansa is a little embarrassed with all the eyes on them. Someone shouts, “How did you get out of Kings Landing?” And Sansa looks around at the Northmen surrounding them and smiles. “Arya and I escaped the Lannister guards alone and hid in the city for a while, we left with the Night’s Watch right after father was executed. We’ve been travelling north ever since.” Sansa tells them her voice loud and clear. The men around them start cheer and celebrate their return. Eventually, Mother hustles them into the castle. It takes a long while to tell their story to mother, and learn of her own struggles since they had parted ways. She can tell that mother doesn’t approve of Gendry, but he’s been with them, a part of their pack for so long now she bristles at her comments. Arya is worse and it only makes mother push harder. 

Finally, Sansa is soaking in a large copper tub and the dye in her hair is coming out little by little. She stays in the tub until the water goes cold. Her mother found her something to wear and she’s relieved to have something else to wear. She’s not sure if she could have stomached putting on her filthy clothes again after her bath. She’s so exhausted that she goes straight to the bed and climbs in, Lady jumping up to keep her company.

Sansa wakes and takes in the sounds around her. She can hear the castle noises and she can see that the sun is just coming up. She gets out of bed and gets ready for the day. She and Lady leave the room and she follows Lady to Arya’s room. Arya is ready as well although it's clear she isn’t happy to be wearing a dress. “Where’s Gendry?” Sansa asks and Arya shrugs and looks to Nymeria. “Find Gen.,” Arya tells her and they follow Nymeria. They don’t have to look too far to find their travelling companion. They find him in the great hall along with most of the commanders. Gendry looks a bit shocked when he sees them and his cheeks flush pink and then he stares back down at his food and doesn’t look up again. They sit with him and are quickly served food to break their fast. It’s not long before Robb, Talisa and their mother arrive and join them. Sansa can see that Gendry is very nervous, but there isn’t anything she can do about that. It’s not like he isn’t still nervous around her either.

Soon they are finished eating and making small talk. Well, mostly mother spent the meal trying to convince them to return to Riverrun with her for the duration of the war. “We need to head north, some of the Boltons managed to slip off and head north,” Robb tells them and Sansa nods, but then she remembers what they’d overheard. “I forgot to tell you, we overheard a scout. The Lannisters are expected here on the moro. We’ve got the way south blocked off still. No news of our victory will have slipped through.” Sansa tells him with a wicked smirk and Robb grins and rubs his hand over his beard and frowns. “We’ll need to split up then. I’ll keep most of the men here, and send some of our men north to catch up to the Boltons.” Robb tells them and Sansa nods. “We’ll head north as well. I haven’t much liked my time in the south.” Sansa says and while Robb nods and looks thoughtful at her suggestion mother protests loudly. Arya of course joins in while Gendry tries to make himself look smaller. “Mother,” Robb growls and she finally quiets though she looks murderous. “We’ll clear a path through and you can all head north,” Robb tells her and she nods with a pleased smile. Sansa can’t wait to get out of this castle, there are far too many people here for her tastes. “You’ll need to replace them with your own scouts, we’ll recall them now,” Sansa tells him and Robb nods and goes off to find his commanders. 

“Who are you clearing a path for?” Catelyn asks and Sansa looks at her mother and wonders how to tell her. “Our wolves,” Arya says and Catelyn looks at her shocked then looks to Lady and Nymeria who are lounging nearby with Grey Wind. “You’ll see mother,” Sansa tells her and they stand to leave. She looks to Lady and she pads out with Nymeria on her heels. She returns to her room and is glad to see that her travelling clothes have been returned cleaned for her. She redresses and gathers the rest of her belongings. Strapping them to her back so that her hands are free. She is also glad for the fur cloak and new boots as she knows that it will be colder as they travel north. She goes to find Arya and Gendry and they wait in the courtyard for their wolves. Arya looks much happier to be out of a dress and heading out of the castle again. They both look happy in their clean and warm clothes. 

Mother soon finds them and she’s fussing over them making Gendry nervous and Arya irritable. “Mother we’ll be fine. We’ve been travelling with our wolves for more than a moon now. We’ve been on our own since they arrested father - we’ll be fine.” Sansa tells her. Finally, they can see Lady and Nymeria returning and thank goodness Robb must have said something as the bannermen are giving their pack a wide berth as their direwolves lead their pack of thirty wolves across the bridge and into the courtyard. Mother gasps and steps back as the wolves arrive. “The men who are going north are ready to go, I’m sending you with Reed men. This is Talen Cray he and his men will accompany you north on your mission.” Robb tells them and Sansa notices a group of soldiers nearby who look ready to depart. “Thank you, Robb. Well met, Lord Talen. We will take the lead and see if we can catch up with the Boltons. We’ll circle back and find you along the road in the evening.” Sansa tells them and after a pause, both men nod. Sansa and Arya hug their mother, Robb and Talisa. Sansa mounts Lady and Gendry and Arya mount Nymeria and they pad north out of the Twins Lady leading and Nymeria bringing up the rear. 

Sansa looks back and she can see the Reed men following them. She turns north and nudges Lady faster. They take off running north chasing the Boltons. They stick to the road through the neck avoiding the boggy marches and they travel very quickly. It's just after midday that they finally see men ahead of them. She slows and the pack melts into the forest alongside the road. They creep up alongside and sure enough, these are the Bolton men who left the Twins just the night before. They stop and let them get ahead and then they head back south towards the Reeds. It's nearing evening when they meet up with them. They make camp alongside the road. The Reeds are much more knowledgeable about the Neck and they have a plan to get their group out in front of the Boltons. 

Sansa is a little concerned about going through the marches but she trusts her bannermen. “Alright, we will go around and cut them off.” Sansa agrees. They have a quick meal bread and cheese they brought with them from the Twins and are soon trekking off into the Neck. They walk through the night and when the sun starts to rise Lord Talen finds her. “We are close to the road now My Lady.” Talen tells her and Sansa smiles. The men get ready and Sansa is glad to see that Gendry seems to have acquired a sword and a rather large hammer while they were at the Twins. The plan is for the wolves and the men to surround the Boltons and Gendry will stay with her and Arya while they are with Lady and Nymeria. Arya has her sword and they both have knives, but while they are with their direwolves they are vulnerable. 

The wolves stalk off to get into position and she and Arya find a soft place to sit together. She finds Lady and she gives a howl and they attack from all sides. They have a quarter of the men that the Boltons have but they have the element of surprise and they have wolves. Lady takes down man after man quickly incapacitating them and moving on. She tears out a throat of a man who’d been about to strike Lord Talen. He nods at her and moves on to the next man. It’s over soon and while they lost a few men, the Boltons are dead to a man. Sansa comes back to herself and stands. Arya soon stands as well and the three of them make their way out towards the battleground.

They burn the bodies, send a man back to the Twins with news and then they head for Greywater Watch. They leave the wolves in the marches near the road while they journey with the Reed men to Greywater Watch. They take boats to the floating castle. Lord Reed’s wife greets them and they eat their evening meal with her and sleep on straw pallets under a roof. In the morning the boatmen return them to their wolves and they continue on their way north with the contingent of Reed men. They travel mostly along the King's Road keeping off into the forest and marches. They hunt along the way as usual and the Reed men are confused at first when the wolves start bringing their catches as they march. “Tell the men to pick up the meat as the wolves drop it and we will cook it up when we camp,” Sansa tells Lord Talen who looks at her and blinks for a moment before he nods slowly, bows and moves off to speak with his men. It takes them a fortnight to reach Winterfell and Sansa is shocked by the sight of it when they do. It’s burnt in places and her ire with Theon rises. They camp in the Wolfswood near the castle but out of sight. They use the wolves to prowl closer and try and find out what is happening in the castle since Theon arrived.

They have been camped in the woods for a sennight when one afternoon they hear dogs barking. The wolves melt into the woods and Sansa goes straight to Lady. She prowls towards the sound of the dogs her pack fanning out around her. Finally, she spots them and is shocked to see a young woman being chased back by a pack of five slobbering and barking large hunting dogs. Her pack closes in as they wait. She waits as they get near, the dogs not having noticed her yet. She sees that there are men following the dogs, but only two. How odd she thinks and as the woman passes her running for her life the dogs finally scent her and start to yip. She darts out and kills two dogs quickly while her wolves deal with the rest she darts back into the forest as the men draw near. She can see they have bows and she howls a sharp cry and her pack dives into the forest and circles around to surround the men. They are alarmed when they come upon the dog's bodies and start to look around into the forest. She sees now that it’s a man and a woman. She waits not wanting to lose a pack member to the man's arrows. She listens as they talk and she is disgusted as they speak. This is Ramsey Bolton, Roose Bolton’s bastard son and he has taken her home from the traitorous Theon Greyjoy. 

Her sister slinks up alongside her and they wait for their moment. As soon as they are turned Lady and Nymeria lunge and both Ramsey and the woman are dead within seconds. She takes off in the direction that the woman had run in and soon finds her huddled under a fallen tree hidden in the roots. She crouches down and watches her while Nymeria runs back to their camp. The woman shivers and cries the entire time it takes Nymeria to return with Arya on her back. Her sister dismounts and approaches the woman slowly while Nymeria backs away giving her space. Slowly eventually Arya gets the woman to come out and talk with her. She’s from Wintertown and Ramsey has been in Winterfell for almost a moon now. Sansa growls and the woman whimpers and Arya sends her a look and tries to calm the woman again. Eventually, Arya gets the woman to come with her and they lead her back to their camp. Sansa returns to herself and starts to think through their options. 

As Arya and the woman come into the camp she sees that the woman is clearly terrified. Sansa approaches her. “Welcome, you’re safe here. Are you hungry?” Sansa asks her and she’s pleased when the woman seems to calm slightly seeing yet another woman. She and Arya bring her near to the fire and help her find a place to settle. “Please tell us what you know of the Boltons who have taken Winterfell,” Sansa asks her. “They showed up a moon ago and took it from the Iron Born. They are worse than the Iron Born, please don’t let Ramsey get me.” She cries out the last and tears stream down her face. “Ramsey is dead, so is the woman with him, and his dogs. They are all dead.” Sansa assures her and the woman looks at her with awe on her face. “Thank you, m’lady.” The woman says and continues crying. 

“Do you know how many men they have?” Arya finally asks hopefully they will be able to some information from her. The woman just shakes her head. “Is there anyone that does know, anyone that could help us?” Sansa asks her and she looks at her for a while and then she nods. “In Wintertown there is an Inn, the Innkeeper he knows everything that happens.” The woman tells them and Sansa nods and thinks that makes sense. “Alight I need you to take him a note and then have him come meet us,” Sansa tells her and she agrees. They wait until dark and then they escort her to Wintertown. Sansa and Arya wait in the forest as she goes into town and they wait for hours until finally near dawn she returns with a large man. They follow at a distance as the woman attempts to lead the man into the woods. When the man starts to protest and turn back Sansa and Arya reveal themselves and the man gasps and falls down in fright. “I told you.” The woman says with a huff clearly over her earlier fear. 

“Hello. I’m Lady Sansa Stark, this is my sister Lady Arya Stark. Thank you for meeting with us.” Sansa greets the man who has scrambled to his feet now. Their pack had edged closer to them and the man looks around wild-eyed. “M’lady, I’m Harrold Butter, my wife and I have run the Inn in Wintertown since before you were born.” Harrold stutters his eyes darting around. “Serra here thought that you might know about how many men the Boltons have here holding Winterfell,” Sansa asks and Harrold finally focuses on her again. “Yes, m’lady. There are two thousand men garrisoned in Winterfell at the moment.” Harrold answers and Sansa’s eyes widen. “And they are all loyal to Roose’s bastard Ramsey?” Sansa asks and Harrold's eyes widen in fear. “They are Bolton men, but only a small part of them are truly Ramsey’s men.” The man answers and Sansa grimaces. “Ramsey is dead. We killed him earlier in the woods, he was hunting Serra with his dogs and bow and arrows.” Sansa tells him and Harrold nods but says nothing. “Is there a way to get a raven to the Twins?” Sansa asks and Harrold nods. “Good here, please send this for us. And if you could meet us here again on the moro same time with any news you might have.” Sansa asks him and passes the scroll and Harrold again nods. “The old gods will keep you, safe m’lady,” Harrold says and turns back towards Wintertown, and Serra goes with him.

Sansa and Arya wait for the pair to return to the town and then they keep watch to see what might happen. The night is quiet and they wait a few hours and then they leave a few wolves to keep watch and they head back to camp. Sansa and Arya mount their direwolves so that they can travel faster in the dark. As they near the camp Sansa and Arya look at one another and she can tell that her sister is worried as well. They make their way to the fire and find Gendry and Lord Talen. “We have news,” Sansa says and sits down. “They have two thousand men.” Arya blurts out and Gendry looks more than a little worried. “They will come looking for Ramsey, and then they will come looking for that group, and then they will come looking for that group. And then they will know something is wrong. I sent a raven to Robb. Hopefully, we get a reply soon.” Sansa says and they remain quiet as they ponder their position. “We need to make sure all the kills look like wolves did it,” Arya says and Sansa looks at her genius sister and smiles a wicked smile. Sansa looks to Lady and she pads off into the forest to keep watch and hunt. The pack fans out and only a few remain in camp for protection.

They stay in the woods and hunt, stalking and killing any men who encroach wearing Bolton colours. Sansa and Arya meet with Harrold every night to receive news. Apparently, the men in Winterfell know that Ramsey is missing and they are telling stories of wolves hunting them in the Wolfswood. Finally, Harrold brings a raven scroll from Robb. They have defeated the Lannisters at the Twins and some of the men are returning north to retake Winterfell. They continue to camp in the woods and wait for the reinforcements to come from the south. Finally, one of their scouts sights them on the King's Road and alerts them. Sansa mounts Lady and Gendry and Arya mount Nymeria and they lope off to intercept them. Sansa sees many banners among them, Glover, Umber, Reed, and she sees that mother is riding near the front as well. 

“Hello, Mother.” Sansa greets as they approach. “Sansa, Arya.” Catelyn greets with a tight smile. “You should camp nearby, come with us our camp is not far,” Sansa tells them and they lead mother and a few of the commanders into the forest while the rest stay with the men and get them settled. It’s not far and soon they have arrived. The Reeds take the incoming horses and find them a place and Sansa invites the newcomers to their fire. “If you’re hungry we have some stew.” Sansa offers her mother and is pleased when she accepts. Sansa fills a bowl for her mother and all of the men who joined them as well. They all sit and dig into their stew. “This is quite good,” Catelyn says and Sansa beams. “Thank you, mother,” Sansa says. 

“How was your journey?” Arya asks and their mother answers simply her face tight. “Since our last raven, we have some news,” Sansa tells them and when everyone is listening she continues to speak. “We discovered Roose’s bastard son hunting a woman with dogs and bows. We killed the dogs, Ramsey, and the woman who was hunting with him. We have a source in Wintertown that tells us that there are two thousand Bolton men garrisoned in Winterfell. And they have been sending out scouting parties ever since we killed Ramsey. The scouts never make it back to Winterfell.” Sansa tells them and she can see some of the men’s throats bob as she speaks. “So they know that we are here?” Someone in Glover colours says, Sansa turns to look at him and says. “They were all killed by wolves, the castle is up in arms about wolves stalking them.” And the man’s face goes white. 

“What is your plan then?” Catelyn asks and Sansa smiles at her mother. “We will go in through the damaged part in the wall near the Godswood. You will arrive at the gate and when they come out to meet you we will open the gates and let you in.” Sansa tells her mother and is pleased to see the nodding coming from everyone. “Good. We won’t give them any time to plan for our arrival.” Catelyn replies and Sansa nods. “Wintertown is still loyal to the Starks and no one has arrived since we arrived. We can’t be sure about ravens though. They may be getting news that way.” Sansa tells her and her mother nods. “Wonderful, we should return to the men,” Catelyn says and stands. Sansa rises as well and moves towards Lady. Mother follows her and tries to convince her to join her in the larger camp for the night. Sansa of course declines. The Reed men help retrieve the horses and soon she is leading them back through to the other camp. 

As they near Sansa keeps back. “Mother we will leave some wolves near here, they will know when you depart for Winterfell and we will be in position when you arrive,” Sansa tells her and her mother nods and Sansa and Lady turn and head back to their camp. They bed down for their final night and it's hard to get to sleep knowing what will happen in the morning. Sansa wakes and listens to the sounds of the forest. She looks to Lady and knows that it’s time to move. She gently wakes Arya, who wakes Gendry and soon everyone is awake and moving. They will eat a meagre amount as they travel through the forest to their destination. 

The pack is spread out ahead and behind their small group keeping watch for any Bolton scouts. They don’t meet anyone and soon arrive at the weak point in the wall. They quietly clammer over the wall and fan out quietly into the Godswood keeping an eye out for any guards. They are lucky that the men they are with all have bows and are very good with them. They take any guards down soundlessly as they find them. Once the Godswood is clear they move close to the main gate and wait for the signal. It seems longer than it actually takes while they wait in the Godswood without making a sound. Finally, they can hear a commotion and the gate opening and they can hear men in armour clanking about. 

Finally, they can hear Lady Catelyn speaking. She is asking for whoever is in charge to present themselves. They quietly make their way out of the Godswood and into the courtyard, swiftly taking out any guards they meet along the way. “Lord Bolton is dead, Lord Bolton’s sons are dead. House Bolton is no more. House Stark has returned to the north. By the order of my son Robb Stark King in the North, kneel and surrender the castle.” Lady Catelyn says loudly her voice carrying through the courtyard. Sansa could see some of the men wavering and some who were starting to kneel. But she also saw some who would not surrender. 

Lady darts forward and rips into one who was starting to move towards her mother. “I suggest you listen to my Lady mother. The wolves are back in Winterfell once more.” Sansa yells and all the wolves howl loudly and they prowl forward pushing the Bolton men further into the courtyard away from them. The men knelt, but Sansa knew they would have to be careful with these men. She watches as mothers' men came into the castle and they round up the Bolton men. It would take time to sort through them all. But for now, they had successfully retaken their home. She’s home finally after so long. The wolves let out another long howl and Sansa couldn’t help but join in with them.

**Author's Note:**

> In response to some of the comments - I wanted to have something happen to Sansa early so that she became closer to Arya. In the novels and the TV show they both go through so much and it's many years before they have changed into who they become. I wanted to have them go through something that shook their faith in their father and bonded them. They are children 9/10 and 13/14 and they journey alone for months. When they reunite with Robb and their mother they are wary and don't let their mother rule their lives - they are still 9/10 and 13/14.


End file.
